Decorative light strings are used to communicate a joy of a holiday season, to draw attention to merchandise, or to simply decorate or adorn an object. Decorative light strings can be used both indoors and outdoors. Decorative light strings have been used residentially to adorn trees, shrubs, and houses. Commercial businesses can use decorative light strings to provide festive atmospheres at their places of business.
Decorative light strings have traditionally used glass-bulb filament lights as individual lighting elements. Such glass-bulb filament lights emit light through a glass bulb in an emission pattern that is substantially uniform in all directions. In recent years, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have used more frequently in decorative light strings. LEDs, however emit light in an emission pattern that is not particularly uniform in all directions. The emission pattern of LEDs can have a strong preferential direction for emission. As such, the perceived light intensity is dependent on the orientation of the lighting element. Thus, some lighting elements may appear to have a much larger intensity than other lighting elements.
To remedy this non-uniform emission pattern of LED-based lighting elements, diffusing lens can be used. Such diffusing lenses scatter the light emitted by the LED, so as to reduce the intensity of the light projected in the preferential direction, and to increase the light projected in non-preferential directions. Such diffusers, however, have a frosted look and do not appear like the clear glass bulbs that have been traditionally used in decorative light strings.